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Nonprofit Overview

Mission: We envision a future in which all children in this nation have the reading skills they need to reach their full potential.
Reading Partners is committed to helping children become lifelong readers by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction with measurable results.

Results: Reading Partners is focused on data and results. We are dedicated to ensuring that every investment made in the success of our students leads to a measurable increase in reading skills. During the 2015-16 school year:
• 77% of students accelerated their progress in reading.
• 97% of teachers report Reading Partners is valuable to their school.
• 96% of volunteers are satisfied with their experience.
• 86% of principals noted school-wide progress in reading.

Target demographics: students who are reading six months to two-and-a-half years below grade level

Geographic areas served: low-income schools across the country

Programs: We recruit and train community volunteers to work one-on-one with students by following a structured, research-based curriculum.

Community Stories

32 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

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For the past two years, I have been a volunteer reading tutor for Reading Partners. It's been a very rewarding experience. The Reading Partners curriculum is thoughtful, easy to follow, and effective. With modest training, I have been able to implement the curriculum and see the reading progress of my students. I also appreciate the support of the Reading Partners site coordinator at the school where I volunteer. She is encouraging, knowledgeable, and seemed to know all the children.

Having been involved in education as a school administrator, education attorney, state legislator, and school board member, it is exciting to see an evidence-based program like Reading Partners that is making strong, measurable gains in closing the early childhood reading proficiency gap. It is an excellent example of a scalable, cost-efficient program that can make a significant impact on the academic success of the students who participate and it also makes for such a rewarding experience for the volunteers who sign-up to help the students. I have had the opportunity to serve as a volunteer Reading Partners' tutor and to also observe the program first-hand in a number of different cities across the country, and I was so impressed with the gains being made at every Reading Partners' school site I visited.

I am grateful to have been a volunteer tutor and a site coordinator for the past 2 years. What I love about Reading Partners is that they are dedicated to creating lifelong readers. With their high quality program and easy to follow curriculum it has been proven that it works.

Very excited to start volunteering for Reading Partners. Reading Partners works to raise the literacy rates of children within our communities. I cant think of a better way to give back than to ensure that our future generations have the necessary skills and confidence to better their lives.

Reading Partners stands out amongst a vanguard of nonprofits working to eliminate the literacy achievement gap. Their scalable program is opening opportunities for thousands of students across the country. An investment in Reading Partners goes a long way -- students more than double their rate of learning while in the program which sets them up for success in school and life.

While I have only been tutoring a short while, I already look forward to my tutoring session every week. My student is so excited to learn and she shows me every week that she wants to succeed. I'm thrilled to see that with each session she is building confidence. It's hard to imagine what my student would do without Reading Partners.

I HIGHLY recommend this program as a volunteer opportunity. I was nervous to start at first but could not be happier now that I am a reading partner.

The program is made all the better by it's evidence based curriculum and close monitoring of students' progress. Reading Partners truly works!

Previous Stories

Reading Partners is an amazing program that targets the critical stage in reading between K-3rd grade where once you fall behind it becomes extremely hard to succeed in future grades, in high school and further in life. The tutors are a joy to watch, working one-on-one with students teaching them the joy of reading and exciting the students to no end. What a joy to watch children find happiness in learning.

I have watched Reading Partners in Charleston, SC transform kids' behavior and their ability to read. They significantly decrease the achievement gap. My most memorable moment is having a student who would barely speak to me my first day of tutoring turn into a talkative and confident young lady by the end of the year.

Tutoring with Reading Partners has shown me that I can make a difference is as little as an hour each week. As a tutor, I get the opportunity be a role model for my student, and I love seeing her smile every day when I show up at her classroom for our session. It feels so great to be able to help her understand what we're reading each day, and watch her begin to figure out problems on her own. She also gets so excited when she gets to take a book home each week, which is a really special experience.

I chose to do my AmeriCorps year of service with Reading Partners because I wanted to truly make a difference for struggling students. I think literacy is such an important part of a student's educational experience, and opens doors for them in other subjects in school. Reading Partners gives students a chance to accelerate their learning, and I'm grateful to be a part of that process!

I have been a tutor for the past year, and it's the best part of my week. It's really easy to get started. The are all laid out for you, which is great and helpful since I don't have a background in teaching. I can see my student improve with each lesson. It's a fantastic program!